THE FIRST EXPERIMENT

“This study took into account two factors that were overlooked in previous studies, namely the difference between liking and wanting, and the role of commitment,” Dai said.

“After all, the liking and wanting responses of our brain’s reward circuitry are said to be governed by separate pathways, and have independent and distinct effects on decisionmaking.

“Also, commitment is, in a way, synonym for passion, which is what helps motivate and drive us to reach certain goals.”

The first experiment was a scenario-based stimulation among 101 single male participants on “hard to get” versus “easy to get” and psychological commitment bases.

They had to read a description of a lunch experience with a potential dating partner, who was described as acting either responsively (easy to get) or unresponsively (hard to get).

Those under the no-commitment condition had to imagine that their lunch partner was randomly assigned, while those under the commitment condition imagined the partner as someone they had a crush on.

All participants were asked to evaluate the dating partner on affective (Were your feelings about the person positive or negative?) and